ETW STAFF – Mumbai
With the success of Showcase Canada India last year, Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) India, organised its biggest annual business-to-business exchange event, Focus Canada-India 2012 on March 13-15, 2012 at Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa. Focus Canada provides a unique opportunity for networking and relationship building between Canadian travel industry partners and key travel agents from India. Creating an opportunity for Indian outbound agents to meet their Canadian counterparts, the event is a unique professional platform for building relationships and sharing market intelligence. This year the exchange brought together representatives from 50 leading Canadian seller organisations with 50 qualified travel and tour operators from India. Present at the event were Stewart G Beck, high commissioner of Canada in India; Greg Klassen, senior vice-president, marketing strategy and communications, CTC; Derek Galpin, MD, India & China, CTC along with Sidney Frank, minister and immigration program manager. Apart from the market place appointment sessions, there were also information and education sessions for buyers covering in-depth destination briefings and strategies, Embassy visa section presentations and research sessions. CTC’s list of co-sponsors at Focus Canada 2012 included Travel Alberta, Tourism British Columbia, Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation, Tourism Quebec, Calgary Stampede and WestJet. As per the latest figures for international arrivals to Canada from India for December 2011, the numbers have been remarkable with nearly a 30 per cent growth.
